Disappointment for a huge fan!

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

To my mind,a musical slapstick comedy, superior in interest to the Abbott and Costello hit of the previous year: "Buck Privates". This one is not about misadventures during basic training. The boys have been in the Navy for 6 years, yet have never been on a ship! Lou has been a shore baker for most of the time.Besides following the misadventures of A&C, the plot centers around the adversarial relationship between Dick Powell: a Sinatra- like crooner idol, and a phony chambermaid (Dorothy) for the place he is hiding out, trying to exit from his celebrity status. She wants to get snapshots of Powell before and after he enters the Navy, to accompany writ-ups of his current activities. Yes, a pretty dumb plot, but the main interest is in the comedy and music.As in "Buck Privates", we have the Andrews Sisters occasionally popping up to sing a song, none of the tunes being especially memorable, although the lyrics were good and often appropriate. Dick Powell also gets to sing a couple of songs. Lou steals some money, and Bud steals it from him, via a fixed shell game and confusing Lou's count of the bills....Lou has a crush on Patti Andrew, and tries to impress her by somehow getting assigned to orchestrate a rowing team practicing in a beached rowboat, with humerus consequences.....Later, aboard a battleship, Lou has a hilarious time trying to sleep in a hammock. Their ship heads for Hawaii, where the boys enjoy a feast, with hula girls and The Andrew Sisters to boot.Lou apparently accidentally spilled some potent sedative into a drink he served the captain and drank some himself. Both are knocked out cold. Lou has a dream in which he is the captain and The Andrew Sisters are ordered to visit the captain's cabin. After they arrive, he locks the door. He wants to show off his skill as captain, barking various contradictory orders through the loudspeakers. Of course, his ship zig-zags between the several others close by, and is headed straight for a ship when he awakens.What about Powell and the phony 'maid" Dorothy? Well, maybe you can guess how they turn out at the end. Claire Dodd, who played the "maid", retired from films after the following year, to get remarried and raise a family.

Released in 1941 - "In the Navy" was one of the top 5 most popular films of that year. And Abbott & Costello got a lot more screen-time to perform some of their most clever comedy routines, like the hilarious "Lemon Bit", a crooked, sleight-of-hand shell game, and the equally priceless math routine where Abbott proves to Costello that 7 times 13 equals 28.Just like "Buck Privates", "In The Navy" was also a WW2 service comedy, clearly intended to encourage American men to enlist in the US Armed Forces. And also, like "Buck Privates", this film contains a number of well-staged song & dance numbers, featuring the talents of The Andrews Sisters and crooner, Dick Powell.Bud and Lou play characters, Smokey Adams and Pomeroy Watson (respectively), a pair of rascally, bottom-of-the-rung, gopher gobs stationed on the US battleship, Alabama.As one could only expect from Bud & Lou, our navy boys never fail to get themselves into a whole lot of wacky trouble with a whole lot of their fellow shipmates.I think that it's interesting to note that before "In The Navy" could be released into theaters it was first screened for officers of the actual US Navy.When offence was found in the sequence where Pomeroy Watson (Costello) impersonates a captain and puts the battleship through a series of madcap maneuvers, it was ordered to be deleted from the picture.Since this sequence was the film's climax, it couldn't be removed and so Universal Studios solved the officers' complaints by making this sequence Pomeroy's dream. And, with that, everybody was happy.

If you liked Abbott and Costello in BUCK PRIVATES, then boy are you in for a treat. Their next film was less a new film for them but the last film reprised almost exactly--except now they are in the Navy instead of the Army. Once again the boys are in the service and they are supported by the Andrews Sisters--with lots and lots of singing--too much if you ask me. And, the laughs are pretty much the same once again with no major surprises, though some of the routines are pretty cute (such as Costello teaching Abbott math). It's a pretty well-made but very formulaic film. It also wasn't helped by the extensive and silly use of cheap toy models and a romance that comes out of no where for the finale. How much you like the film is strongly dependent on your love for this comedy team. Kids and some adults probably will enjoy it most, while those who hate old movies will probably be bored by the whole thing. Now I know my opinion is probably NOT that shared by many Abbott and Costello fans. I like their early films but really think they suffer some from all that irrelevant music as well as having subplots involving a third party. In BUCK PRIVATES, Lee Bowman often took center stage--here, it's Dick Powell. While both are fine actors, they sure aren't funny and had no place in the film. I want 100% Abbott and Costello in my films--such as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN or some of their other post-1941 films.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello work up to a goofy stride in "In the Navy," their second feature film and also the second in which they're in the service. Having left the Army for the Navy, their misadventures continue with Abbott still the money-hunting con artist and Costello his sidekick and, usually, patsy.An A & C skit is the highlight of every film they made and here Abbott's blatant cheating at Three-Card Monte, played with produce, is very funny.The score is so-so. Jerome Kern composed the music for "Buck Privates." The composers here weren't in Kern's league.Supported by the ever fine Andrews Sisters and Dick Powell as a famous crooner running away from fame to seek anonymity by serving his country, "In the Navy" has a stronger national defense message than its G.I. predecessor. We were getting closer to war. "Keep your ship afloat," intones an officer at a recruit graduation ceremony. Sadly, the magnificent but obsolescent battleships shown at the beginning and end of the film and in quick shots within the story are the very vessels that suffered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.The movie is dedicated to the navy personnel at the San Diego and San Pedro bases from which the Pacific Fleet deployed to Pearl Harbor in 1941 at President Roosevelt's express orders.7/10